Dorothy Chappell

Orphan Lois Walton is treated unkindly by her aunt, who has her placed in a reformatory. She and the other inmates are badly abused but are afraid to complain, and she remains silent after a riot is subdued. She arouses the sympathy of Peter Madison, a lawyer who conducts an investigation.

Myrtle Meers breaks her engagement with Larry Fields when he proves to be a coward. Fields goes to work in his father's Pennsylvania coal mines to find his manhood. There he thwarts a plan to control the mines, rescues June Waugh, the girl he loves, and wins self-respect.